March 31, 2015

(March 31, 2015) The
dielectric elastomer minimum energy structure can realize large angular
deformations by a small voltage-induced strain of the dielectric elastomer, so
it is a suitable candidate to make a rotary joint for a soft robot. Driven with
an alternating electric field, the joint deformation vibrational frequency
follows the input voltage frequency. However, the authors find that if the
rotational inertia increases such that the inertial torque makes the frame
deform over a negative angle, then the joint motion will become complicated and
the vibrational mode will alter with the change of voltage frequency. The
vibration with the largest amplitude does not occur while the voltage frequency
is equal to natural response frequency of the joint.

A research team from the University of Houston has created
an algorithm that allowed a man to grasp a bottle and other objects with a
prosthetic hand, powered only by his thoughts.

The technique, demonstrated with a 56-year-old man whose
right hand had been amputated, uses non-invasive brain monitoring, capturing
brain activity to determine what parts of the brain are involved in grasping an
object. With that information, researchers created a computer program, or
brain-machine interface (BMI), that harnessed the subject’s intentions and
allowed him to successfully grasp objects, including a water bottle and a
credit card. The subject grasped the selected objects 80 percent of the time
using a high-tech bionic hand fitted to the amputee’s stump.

(March 31, 2015) Memory
and as well as connections between brain cells were restored in mice with a
model of Alzheimer’s given an experimental cancer drug, Yale School of Medicine
researchers reported in the journal Annals of Neurology.

The drug, AZD05030, developed by Astra Zeneca proved
disappointing in treating solid tumors but appears to block damage triggered
during the formation of amyloid-beta plaques, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s
disease. The new study, funded by an innovative National Institutes of Health
(NIH) program to test failed drugs on different diseases, has led to the launch
of human trials to test the efficacy of AZD05030 in Alzheimer’s patients.

Soil organic matter, long thought to be a semi-permanent
storehouse for ancient carbon, may be much more vulnerable to climate change
than previously thought.

Plants direct between 40 percent and 60 percent of
photosynthetically fixed carbon to their roots and much of this carbon is
secreted and then taken up by root-associated soil microorganisms. Elevated
carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in the atmosphere are projected to increase
the quantity and alter the composition of root secretions released into the
soil.

(March 31, 2015) When
weighing the pluses and minuses of your skin add this to the plus column: Your
skin – like that of all vertebrates – is remarkably resistant to tearing. Now,
a collaboration of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of
California (UC) San Diego has shown why.

March 30, 2015

(March 30, 2015) When
Jonas the lemur died in January, just five months short of his thirtieth
birthday, he was the oldest of his kind. A primate called a fat-tailed dwarf
lemur, Jonas belonged to a long-lived clan. Dwarf lemurs live two to three
times longer than similar-sized animals.

In a new study, Duke University researchers combed through
more than 50 years of medical records on hundreds of dwarf lemurs and three
other lemur species at the Duke Lemur Center for clues to their exceptional
longevity.

(March 30, 2015) Speaking
in public is the top fear for many people. Now, researchers from the
Human-Computer Interaction Group at the University of Rochester have developed
an intelligent user interface for “smart glasses” that gives real-time feedback
to the speaker on volume modulation and speaking rate, while being minimally
distracting.

(March 30, 2015) In the first study of its kind, scientists at the Department
of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) quantitatively
show that electric vehicles (EVs) will meet the daily travel needs of drivers
longer than commonly assumed. Many drivers and much prior literature on the
retirement of EV batteries have assumed that EV batteries will be retired after
the battery has lost 20 percent of its energy storage or power delivery
capability. This study shows that the daily travel needs of drivers continue to
be met well beyond these levels of battery degradation.

Weizmann Institute scientists identify a potential drug
molecule that stops cancer cells, but not healthy ones, from getting their
“mail”

(March 30, 2015) The
average living cell needs communication skills: It must transmit a constant
stream of messages quickly and efficiently from its outer walls to the inner
nucleus, where most of the day-to-day decisions are made. But this rapid,
long-distance communication system leaves itself open to mutations that can
give rise to a “spam attack” that promotes cancer. Prof. Rony Seger of the
Weizmann Institute's Biological Regulation Department and his team have now
proposed a method of shutting off the overflow of information before it can get
to the nucleus. If the initial promising results hold up, the method could be
used to treat a number of different cancers, especially several that develop
resistance to current treatments, and it might possibly induce fewer side effects
than those treatments do. These findings appeared today in Nature
Communications.

New, Assisted Steering System with Optimum Energy Efficiency
for Electric Vehicles Is Subject of a Joint Project by KIT and Schaeffler

(March 30, 2015) The
project "Intelligent Assisted Steering System with Optimum Energy
Efficiency for Electric Vehicles (e²-Lenk)" subsidized by the Federal
Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) focuses on a new assisted steering
concept. In conventional vehicles, the internal combustion engine not only
accelerates the car but also supplies on-board assist systems with energy; such
as the assisted steering system, which reduces the strain on the driver at the
wheel. In electric vehicles, this energy comes from the battery and also
reduces the range as a result. In this research project by the collaborating
partners, Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT) and Schaeffler, the steering
system is assisted in an energy-efficient manner by intelligent control of the
drive torques transmitted to the individual wheels.

Scientists at the University of Bonn have succeeded in
linking two different quantum systems

(March 30, 2015) Physicists
at the Universities of Bonn and Cambridge have succeeded in linking two
completely different quantum systems to one another. In doing so, they have
taken an important step forward on the way to a quantum computer. To accomplish
their feat the researchers used a method that seems to function as well in the
quantum world as it does for us people: teamwork. The results have now been
published in the "Physical Review Letters".

March 28, 2015

(March 28, 2015) New
coloured protective coatings offer corrosion and wear protection and could for
instance also be used as a warning colour on surfaces which can get very hot.

New coloured protective coatings offer the same corrosion
and wear protection as colourless coatings while their colouration opens new
opportunities. Red could for instance be used as a warning colour on surfaces
which can get very hot. The new possibilities from combining protection and
colour in such coatings will be demonstrated by INM – Leibniz Institute for New
Materials at this year’s Hannover Fair from 13 to 17 April as an exhibitor at
the leading Research & Technology trade fair (stand B46 in hall 2).

(March 28, 2015) Telephones.
Refrigerators. Cars. Television sets. Bathroom scales. More and more of the
things that surround us in our daily lives send and receive data via the
Internet without us having to know about it. The phenomenon is called the
”Internet of Things”. During the last three years, Aalborg University has been
involved in a major European project to ensure that the things speak the same
language – and that the language can be used by all.

March 27, 2015

(March 27, 2015) Researchers
have developed a novel technique for crafting nanometer-scale necklaces based
on tiny star-like structures threaded onto a polymeric backbone. The technique
could provide a new way to produce hybrid organic-inorganic shish kebab
structures from semiconducting, magnetic, ferroelectric and other materials
that may afford useful nanoscale properties.

(March 27, 2015) Scientists
working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the
National Institutes of Health (NIH) have devised and demonstrated a new,
shape-shifting probe, about one-hundredth as wide as a human hair, which is
capable of sensitive, high-resolution remote biological sensing that is not
possible with current technology. If eventually put into widespread use, the
design could have a major impact on research in medicine, chemistry, biology
and engineering. Ultimately, it might be used in clinical diagnostics.

(March 27, 2015) Bioplastics
made from protein sources such as albumin and whey have shown significant
antibacterial properties, findings that could eventually lead to their use in
plastics used in medical applications such as wound healing dressings, sutures,
catheter tubes and drug delivery, according to a recent study by the University
of Georgia College of Family and Consumer Sciences.

March 26, 2015

(March 26, 2015) Using
high-performance computing and genetic engineering to boost the photosynthetic
efficiency of plants offers the best hope of increasing crop yields enough to
feed a planet expected to have 9.5 billion people on it by 2050, researchers
report in the journal Cell.

There has never been a better time to try this, said
University of Illinois plant biology professor Stephen P. Long, who wrote the
report with colleagues from Illinois and the CAS-MPG Partner Institute of
Computational Biology in Shanghai.

(March 26, 2015) A
new process developed by researchers at Brown University uses silicon telluride
to produce multilayered two-dimensional semiconductor materials in a variety of
shapes and orientations.

Chemists from Brown University have found a way to make new
2-D, graphene-like semiconducting nanomaterials using an old standby of the
semiconductor world: silicon.

(March 26, 2015) Researchers
at UT Dallas have created new structures that exploit the electromechanical
properties of specific nanofibers to stretch to up to seven times their length,
while remaining tougher than Kevlar.

These structures absorb up to 98 joules per gram. Kevlar,
often used to make bulletproof vests, can absorb up to 80 joules per gram.
Researchers hope the structures will one day form material that can reinforce
itself at points of high stress and could potentially be used in military airplanes
or other defense applications.

March 25, 2015

(March 25, 2015) Magnetic
nanoparticles can open the blood-brain barrier and deliver molecules directly
to the brain, say researchers from the University of Montreal, Polytechnique
Montréal, and CHU Sainte-Justine. This barrier runs inside almost all vessels
in the brain and protects it from elements circulating in the blood that may be
toxic to the brain. The research is important as currently 98% of therapeutic
molecules are also unable to cross the blood-brain barrier.

March 24, 2015

The two senior engineering majors at George Mason University
appear to have invented and built a way to use sound waves to put out fires. It
started as an idea for a senior research project, and after a year of trial and
error and spending about $600 of their own money, they have built a somewhat
portable sound generator, amplifier, power source and focusing tube that would
seem to have great potential in attacking fires in a variety of situations.

(March 24, 2015) Researchers
in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin have
used a combination of metabolic engineering and directed evolution to develop a
new, mutant yeast strain that could lead to a more efficient biofuel production
process that would make biofuels more economically competitive with conventional
fuels. Their findings were published online in the journal Metabolic
Engineering in March.

(March 24, 2015) Researchers
combine two types of photovoltaic material to make a cell that harnesses more
sunlight.

Researchers at MIT and Stanford University have developed a
new kind of solar cell that combines two different layers of sunlight-absorbing
material in order to harvest a broader range of the sun’s energy. The
development could lead to photovoltaic cells that are more efficient than those
currently used in solar-power installations, the researchers say.

March 23, 2015

(March 23, 2015) A
research group led by Yusuke Yamauchi, NIMS, in cooperation with other research
organizations in Japan and overseas, successfully developed a nanoporous gold
material with a regular, uniform pore arrangement using polymers as a template.

Abstract

A research group led by Yusuke Yamauchi, an Independent
Scientist at the International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA),
NIMS (Sukekatsu Ushioda, President), in cooperation with other research
organizations in Japan and overseas, successfully developed a nanoporous gold
material with a regular, uniform pore arrangement using polymers as a template.
This research result had been published in the Nature Communications on 23
March 2015.

(March 23, 2015) Its theoretical properties made graphene a »wonder material«
overnight: it is up to 200 times harder than steel, six times lighter, strong
but flexible, environmentally friendly and the world’s thinnest material.
Measuring only a single atom layer, about a one hundred-thousandth the diameter
of a human hair, it still retains a remarkable level of conductivity. At the
Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF, these properties will
be put to practice: as a nearly massless electrode for piezoelectric
resonators, as used in bandpass filters of smartphones.

(March 23, 2015) Researchers from the University of Lincoln, UK, have
completed a three year investigation into stratospheric passenger airships as
part of a multi-national engineering project designed to provide a future
sustainable air transport network.

A group of academics from the University’s School of
Engineering have been members of a pan European research team that believes
airships may be the ‘green’ answer to the future growth of aviation.

(March 20, 2015) Researchers
are on the verge of a breakthrough that will allow for the wide-scale use of
thermoplastic composites in the automotive industry. These 'futuristic
materials' are ultra-light, while being strong and rigid and also sustainable
and recyclable. Researchers at the ThermoPlastic Composite Research Center
(TPRC) in Enschede (Netherlands) were recently successful in overcoming the
last hurdle, which was to design practically faultless components and to make
the process for doing so predictable. This makes it possible to determine at an
early stage of the design process whether a component can be manufactured at
all. This means that the two biggest requirements made by the automotive
industry, namely weight reduction and reduced costs, can be satisfied.

March 19, 2015

(March 19, 2015) Infiniti
today announced Canadian pricing for the 2015 Infiniti Q50 Limited Sports Sedan
and 2015 QX80 Limited 7-passenger SUV. The new Q50 Limited combines popular
equipment together at an attractive value while the new QX80 Limited offers
subtle exterior upgrades and a sophisticated interior evocative of an executive
boardroom.

(March 19, 2015) Our
fast-approaching future of driverless cars and “smart” electrical grids will
depend on billions of linked devices making decisions and communicating with
split-second precision to prevent highway collisions and power outages. But a
new report* released by the National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST) warns that this future could be stalled by our lack of effective methods
to marry computers and networks with timing systems.

A study in this week’s Scientific Report by researchers at
Michigan State University (MSU) and in China add more fuel to the already hot
debate about whether electric vehicles are more environmentally friendly than
conventional vehicles by uncovering two hidden benefits.

(March 19, 2015) Creating large amounts of polymer nanofibers
dispersed in liquid is a challenge that has vexed researchers for years. But
engineers and researchers at North Carolina State University and one of its
start-up companies have now reported a method that can produce unprecedented
amounts of polymer nanofibers, which have potential applications in filtration,
batteries and cell scaffolding.read entire press release

(March 19, 2015) A device
resembling a plastic honeycomb yet infinitely smaller than a bee’s stinger can
steer light beams around tighter curves than ever before possible, while
keeping the integrity and intensity of the beam intact.

The work, conducted by researchers at the University of
Texas El Paso (UTEP) and at the University of Central Florida (UCF) and
published in the journal Optics Express, introduces a more effective way to
transmit data rapidly on electronic circuit boards by using light.

(March 19, 2015) The
2014 chemistry Nobel Prize recognized important microscopy research that
enabled greatly improved spatial resolution. This innovation, resulting in
nanometer resolution, was made possible by making the source (the emitter) of
the illumination quite small and by
moving it quite close to the object being imaged. One problem with this approach is that in
such proximity, the emitter and object can interact with each other, blurring
the resulting image. Now, a new JQI
study has shown how to sharpen nanoscale microscopy (nanoscopy) even more by
better locating the exact position of the light source.

(March 19, 2015) An
Indiana University cognitive scientist and collaborators have found that
posture is critical in the early stages of acquiring new knowledge.

The study, conducted by Linda Smith, a professor in the IU
Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Psychological and Brain
Sciences, in collaboration with a roboticist from England and a developmental
psychologist from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, offers a new approach to
studying the way "objects of cognition," such as words or memories of
physical objects, are tied to the position of the body.

(March 19, 2015) Scientists
at the University of Cambridge have successfully created ‘mini-lungs’ using
stem cells derived from skin cells of patients with cystic fibrosis, and have
shown that these can be used to test potential new drugs for this debilitating
lung disease.

(March 19, 2015) I
know it sounds pretty crazy, but the truth is, starting in the very near future
(it's actually already begun, and I bet you're carrying evidence of this in your
pocket right now), the majority of our energy will be delivered not through
fossil fuels but through a very special metal.

Sawyer is a high performance robot designed for machine
tending and other precise applications

(March 19, 2015)
Rethink Robotics today provided an exciting glimpse into the future of
collaborative robotics with the introduction of Sawyer™, a single-arm,
high-performance robot designed to execute machine tending, circuit board
testing and other precise tasks that have historically been impractical to
automate with traditional industrial robots.
Sawyer is a significant addition to the company’s smart, collaborative
robot family, which also includes the groundbreaking Baxter™ robot that defined
the category of safe, interactive, affordable automation.

March 18, 2015

(March 18, 2015) A
3-D printing technology developed by Silicon Valley startup, Carbon3D Inc.,
enables objects to rise from a liquid media continuously rather than being
built layer by layer as they have been for the past 25 years, representing a
fundamentally new approach to 3-D printing. The technology, to appear as the
cover article in the March 20 print issue of Science, allows ready-to-use
products to be made 25 to 100 times faster than other methods and creates
previously unachievable geometries that open opportunities for innovation not
only in health care and medicine, but also in other major industries such as
automotive and aviation.

Though many animals can move with more precision and
accuracy than our best-engineered aircraft and technologies, gyroscopes are rarely
found in nature. Scientists know of just one group of insects, the group
including flies, that has something that behaves like a gyroscope — sensors
called halteres, clublike structures that evolved from wings.

Breaking new grounds in the future of remote-controlled
drone technology, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the University of
California (UC) Berkeley, has jointly developed a living machine whose flight
can be wirelessly controlled with minimal human intervention.

Rice University scientists gain control of electronic, fluorescent
properties of coal-based graphene

(March 18, 2015) Graphene quantum dots made from coal,
introduced in 2013 by the Rice University lab of chemist James Tour, can be
engineered for specific semiconducting properties in either of two single-step
processes.

In a new study this week in the American Chemical Society
journal Applied Materials & Interfaces, Tour and colleagues demonstrated
fine control over the graphene oxide dots’ size-dependent band gap, the
property that makes them semiconductors. Quantum dots are semiconducting
materials that are small enough to exhibit quantum mechanical properties that
only appear at the nanoscale.

(March 18, 2015) Flexible
optoelectronic devices that can be produced roll-to-roll – much like newspapers
are printed – are a highly promising path to cheaper devices such as solar
cells and LED lighting panels. Scientists from "TREASORES" project
present prototype flexible solar cell
modules as well as novel silver-based transparent electrodes that outperform
currently used materials.

A new technique invented at Caltech to produce graphene—a
material made up of an atom-thick layer of carbon—at room temperature could
help pave the way for commercially feasible graphene-based solar cells and
light-emitting diodes, large-panel displays, and flexible electronics.

(March 18, 2015) Researchers
at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST)
have demonstrated a more robust method for controlling single, micron-sized
particles with light.

Passing light along optical microfibers or nanofibers to
manipulate particles has gained popularity in the past decade and has an array
of promising applications in physics and biology. Most research has focused on
using this technique with the basic profile of light, known as the fundamental
mode.

(March 18, 2015) Researchers
have fine-tuned a technique for coating gold nanorods with silica shells, allowing
engineers to create large quantities of the nanorods and giving them more
control over the thickness of the shell. Gold nanorods are being investigated
for use in a wide variety of biomedical applications, and this advance paves
the way for more stable gold nanorods and for chemically functionalizing the
surface of the shells.

March 17, 2015

(March 17, 2015) An
atomically thin membrane with microscopically small holes may prove to be the
basis for future hydrogen fuel cells, water filtering and desalination
membranes, according to a group of 15 theorists and experimentalists, including
three theoretical researchers from Penn State.

About Me

Graduated from University of Marmara, Academy of Fine Arts, Department of Design of Industrial Products and completed her dissertation titled "A Review on the Effects of the Trends & Periods on the Structural Constructions on the Products That are Associated With Consumer Electronics" in the same department for her Master’s Degree.

Lectured at University of Anatolia, Department of Industrial Products on part-time basis. Currently, she has been lecturing on part-time basis Faculty of Arts & Science, Department of Industrial Products Design at University of Doğuş.

She was the Head of ETMK Istanbul Branch from February 2010 to June 2011.

She took part in many competitions and projects as a member of advisory board and jury. Currently, she is the acting executive officer coordinating various projects between the Industry and University at the company where she is employed.

ABOUT THE CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE:

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On its pages, TrendsSoul publishes the latest news on innovations in science and technology, as well as the latest / newest designs and/or design samples in the disciplines of plastic arts, fashion and jewellery designs, furniture and interior decoration designs, packaging designs and industrial designs (along with the initial specific samples some of which today are considered as antiques).

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